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Making Transparent Environmental Management Decisions

Author : Keith M. Reynolds

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 344 pages

File Size : 40,18 MB

Release : 2014-03-10

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 3642320007

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Book Description

Since 1997, the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system has been used around the world to support environmental analysis and planning in many different application areas, and it has been applied over a wide range of geographic scales, from forest stands to entire countries. An extensive sampling of this diversity of applications is presented in section 2, in which EMDS application developers describe the varied uses of the system. These accounts, together with the requisite background in section 1, provide valuable practical insights into how the system can be applied in the general domain of environmental management.



Structured Decision Making

Author : Robin Gregory

Publisher : John Wiley & Sons

Page : 315 pages

File Size : 32,45 MB

Release : 2012-03-19

Category : Mathematics

ISBN : 1444333410

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Book Description

This book outlines the creative process of making environmental management decisions using the approach called Structured Decision Making. It is a short introductory guide to this popular form of decision making and is aimed at environmental managers and scientists. This is a distinctly pragmatic label given to ways for helping individuals and groups think through tough multidimensional choices characterized by uncertain science, diverse stakeholders, and difficult tradeoffs. This is the everyday reality of environmental management, yet many important decisions currently are made on an ad hoc basis that lacks a solid value-based foundation, ignores key information, and results in selection of an inferior alternative. Making progress – in a way that is rigorous, inclusive, defensible and transparent – requires combining analytical methods drawn from the decision sciences and applied ecology with deliberative insights from cognitive psychology, facilitation and negotiation. The authors review key methods and discuss case-study examples based in their experiences in communities, boardrooms, and stakeholder meetings. The goal of this book is to lay out a compelling guide that will change how you think about making environmental decisions. Visit www.wiley.com/go/gregory/ to access the figures and tables from the book.





Risks and Decisions for Conservation and Environmental Management

Author : Mark Burgman

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 516 pages

File Size : 21,56 MB

Release : 2005-04-07

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780521543019

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Book Description

This book outlines how to conduct a complete environmental risk assessment. The first part documents the psychology and philosophy of risk perception and assessment, introducing a taxonomy of uncertainty and the importance of context. It provides a critical examination of the use and abuse of expert judgement and goes on to outline approaches to hazard identification and subjective ranking that account for uncertainty and context. The second part of the book describes technical tools that can assist risk assessments to be transparent and internally consistent. These include interval arithmetic, ecotoxicological methods, logic trees and Monte Carlo simulation. These methods have an established place in risk assessments in many disciplines and their strengths and weaknesses are explored. The last part of the book outlines some new approaches, including p-bounds and information-gap theory, and describes how quantitative and subjective assessments can be used to make transparent decisions.



Value Functions for Environmental Management

Author : E. Beinat

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 249 pages

File Size : 18,17 MB

Release : 2013-04-18

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 9401588856

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Book Description

Environmental decisions must satisfy a multitude of objectives and the matching of a plan, policy or project to such objectives is a matter of both facts and value judgements. Value Functions for Environmental Management provides a systematic approach to the structuring and measurement of value judgements, showing how they drive the decision process and how to make them transparent and effective in support of complex decisions. The value functions that the book describes provide a scheme for the exploration of human values and a tool for transforming them into an analytical model. A clear statement can then be made of the degree to which a decision has achieved its objectives, and how conflicting objectives may be addressed. This does not mean that there is no role for human judgement in the process. Complexity, often coupled with large information gaps, necessitates expert judgement, but the values adopted by the experts are themselves capable of being structured and measured according to the value function methodology presented here, even if the judgements themselves are qualitative and tentative. Value models for expert panels are also presented. The use of the methodology in practice is illustrated by examples. The book contains an extensive subject index.



Multicriteria Decision Analysis in Geographic Information Science

Author : Jacek Malczewski

Publisher : Springer

Page : 335 pages

File Size : 32,86 MB

Release : 2015-02-02

Category : Science

ISBN : 3540747575

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Book Description

This book is intended for the GIS Science and Decision Science communities. It is primarily targeted at postgraduate students and practitioners in GIS and urban, regional and environmental planning as well as applied decision analysis. It is also suitable for those studying and working with spatial decision support systems. The main objectives of this book are to effectivley integrate Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) into Geographic Information Science (GIScience), to provide a comprehensive account of theories, methods, technologies and tools for tackling spatial decision problems and to demonstrate how the GIS-MCDA approaches can be used in a wide range of planning and management situations.



Comprehensive Geographic Information Systems

Author :

Publisher : Elsevier

Page : 1488 pages

File Size : 43,96 MB

Release : 2017-07-21

Category : Science

ISBN : 0128047933

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Book Description

Geographical Information Systems, Three Volume Set is a computer system used to capture, store, analyze and display information related to positions on the Earth’s surface. It has the ability to show multiple types of information on multiple geographical locations in a single map, enabling users to assess patterns and relationships between different information points, a crucial component for multiple aspects of modern life and industry. This 3-volumes reference provides an up-to date account of this growing discipline through in-depth reviews authored by leading experts in the field. VOLUME EDITORS Thomas J. Cova The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States Ming-Hsiang Tsou San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States Georg Bareth University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany Chunqiao Song University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States Yan Song University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States Kai Cao National University of Singapore, Singapore Elisabete A. Silva University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom Covers a rapidly expanding discipline, providing readers with a detailed overview of all aspects of geographic information systems, principles and applications Emphasizes the practical, socioeconomic applications of GIS Provides readers with a reliable, one-stop comprehensive guide, saving them time in searching for the information they need from different sources



Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making

Author : National Research Council

Publisher : National Academies Press

Page : 322 pages

File Size : 40,30 MB

Release : 2008-11-07

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 0309134412

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Book Description

Federal agencies have taken steps to include the public in a wide range of environmental decisions. Although some form of public participation is often required by law, agencies usually have broad discretion about the extent of that involvement. Approaches vary widely, from holding public information-gathering meetings to forming advisory groups to actively including citizens in making and implementing decisions. Proponents of public participation argue that those who must live with the outcome of an environmental decision should have some influence on it. Critics maintain that public participation slows decision making and can lower its quality by including people unfamiliar with the science involved. This book concludes that, when done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment. Well-managed public involvement also increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, which makes it more likely that the decisions will be implemented effectively. This book recommends that agencies recognize public participation as valuable to their objectives, not just as a formality required by the law. It details principles and approaches agencies can use to successfully involve the public.



Biodiversity, Conservation and Environmental Management in the Great Lakes Basin

Author : Eric Freedman

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 231 pages

File Size : 16,67 MB

Release : 2017-11-13

Category : Nature

ISBN : 1351977040

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Book Description

The Great Lakes Basin in North America holds more than 20 percent of the world's fresh water. Threats to habitats and biodiversity have economic, political, national security, and cultural implications and ramifications that cross the US-Canadian border. This multidisciplinary book presents the latest research to demonstrate the interconnected nature of the challenges facing the Basin. Chapters by U.S. and Canadian scholars and practitioners represent a wide range of natural science and social science fields, including environmental sciences, geography, political science, natural resources, mass communications, environmental history and communication, public health, and economics. The book covers threats from invasive species, industrial development, climate change, agricultural and chemical runoff, species extinction, habitat restoration, environmental disease, indigenous conservation efforts, citizen engagement, environmental regulation, and pollution.Overall the book provides political, cultural, economic, scientific, and social contexts for recognizing and addressing the environmental challenges faced by the Great Lakes Basin.



Decision Making for the Environment

Author : National Research Council

Publisher : National Academies Press

Page : 297 pages

File Size : 34,21 MB

Release : 2005-07-01

Category : Science

ISBN : 0309095409

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Book Description

With the growing number, complexity, and importance of environmental problems come demands to include a full range of intellectual disciplines and scholarly traditions to help define and eventually manage such problems more effectively. Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities is the result of a 2-year effort by 12 social and behavioral scientists, scholars, and practitioners. The report sets research priorities for the social and behavioral sciences as they relate to several different kinds of environmental problems.